Believe it or not, spring semester is winding down! At least for me, it is. I have a little less than two months until the semester is over. The end of this semester will be pretty bittersweet because I'll be ending my junior year of college which is crazy for me to even think about. Time seriously flies because that will mean I'll be a senior this fall. I am not ready for that at all but that's okay haha. Okay, back to the main point here! Last summer, I was able to read some books for my own pleasure and it was great! It felt great not to be reading a textbook for once. This summer, I'm challenging myself to read again. I'm aiming to read about 5 books all thanks to my best friend who told me she was challenging herself to read for fun as well. I've started to generate a list of books I can choose to read this summer and I'm giving you guys a couple from that list (five to be exact). Maybe you'll be intrigued by them and want to read them too or maybe you have read them and can tell me if you recommend I read them. Also, I'm open to any suggestions you may have for me!

"The Sun and Her Flowers" by Rupi Kaur

After reading "Milk and Honey" last summer, I knew that I wanted to read more for Rupi Kaur! To be honest, I am typically not one who is into poetry but I really enjoy Kaur's poetry. Her poems make you want to keep turning the pages to read the next one then the one after that and so on. I'm sure this collection of poetry won't disappoint me and is worth a read.

"The Sun Is Also a Star" by Nicola Yoon

I read "Everything, Everything" by Nicola Yoon last summer and I loved it! It was made into a film that I have yet to watch though. I'm in no rush to watch it because I enjoyed the book so much to the point where if the movie isn't as good as the book then I'll be very upset! I enjoy Yoon's writing as it definitely keeps you intrigued throughout. I stayed up late to read "Everything, Everything" some nights and if you know me, I take sleep very seriously. I love my sleep but I sacrificed it to finish that book so that tells you something. At the end of it, there was a short excerpt of "The Sun Is Also a Star" and I knew I had to get that book next but then school happened. This summer I'll finally have some time to get this book and start reading it and I am pretty excited. Check out the book's overview here: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-sun-is-also-a... . I think that is better than how I could explain it.

"The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas

The overview itself gave me the chills. The protagonist, Starr Carter, lives in a poor neighborhood but attends a suburban prep school. She has to deal with the balance of these two environments and in the midst of it all, she loses her childhood best friend, Khalil, to a fatal shooting that Starr witnessed herself. I'm pretty sure this will have me in tears but I definitely want to read it!

"In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez

Last spring, I took a class where we read "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" which was written by the same author, Julia Alvarez. I enjoyed that book and knew that I wanted to read another book of hers on my own. This book's description reminds me of "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" as it has storytelling from multiple characters. I remember being confused by this but it is something you get used to. I think it is very interesting to tell a story in this way because you get all these different viewpoints all in one book. Specifically, this book tells the story of four sisters who were in a car accident in the Dominican Republic. What really stood out to me is that the media did not report that there was a fourth sister and that she survived this tragedy. The description hints that this could have happened because the sisters were among the leading opponents of Gen. Rafael Leonidas Trujillo’s dictatorship which could be a factor in how the incident was reported.

Lastly,

"The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins

This book isn't a type of book I would read. I want to get out of my comfort zone a bit. I know it was recently made into a film so that is how I found about about it. I wanted to see the movie but I didn't end up seeing it. Maybe I can read the book first then watch the movie. "The Girl on the Train" grabbed my attention by it having a horror/mysterious theme. The main character is so accustomed to her daily train commute and one day that changes because she sees something. She goes to the police about what she saw. This makes me want to read the book and figure out what she saw!